DARREN MONCRIEFF
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
FIVE years of hard work has borne fruit following the SANFL debut of two footballers from the APY Lands for Woodville-West Torrens last Saturday.
Kieren Roberts and Amos Frank became the first players from the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY) Lands to play SANFL at a senior level.
Roberts, 20, and Frank, 22, played for the Eagles' reserves team against Glenelg in the round 20 fixture.
The pair have been stand out players in the Lands' Far North West Sports League competition, and they were handy contributors for the Eagles on Saturday even though their team lost by 50 points.
The stats show that Frank kicked two goals and had 13 possessions (10 kicks, three handballs) and Roberts booted 1.2 from 12 possessions (six kicks, six handballs).
In February, they played in the SANFL's State Aboriginal under-21s competition, and in May, as part of the AFL's Footy Means Business program, they played in the curtain-raiser to the annual Dreamtime at the G.
The SANFL's Aboriginal employment and participation manager, James Moore, said the league hope the pair's presence on Saturday will open the door for more APY Lands players into top-level footy in Adelaide.
While aware of the challenges, Moore said there were dual benefits of footballers such Roberts and Frank in the SANFL.
"Homesickness is the real issue but if the right support system is put in place and the players really want to make it then I am sure we will see some regular SANFL and AFL players from the remote areas of SA in the not-too-distant future," he said.
"If we can provide a proven pathway for the APY Lands footballers then hopefully SA football in general will benefit from them playing at SANFL level.
"Amos and Kieren have shown it is possible and we will know work hard to ensure they have all the support needed to play regular SANFL football with the Eagles as they have indicated."
In 2006, the SANFL embarked on a sports program on the APY Lands aimed at consolidating organised men and women’s sport -- softball for the women, football for the men.
The result was the Far North West Sports League, as Moore explains.
"The SANFL's Tim Stewart and Frank Leonard, along with members of the SA Government in the Lands, have been working on structuring the sporting competitions up there for around five years," he said.
"These two players were identified out of that program, then it was up to myself and the SANFL to provide an opportunity for them to play at SANFL level.
"Thankfully, Eagles footy manager Trent Hentschel and the Eagles in general wanted to offer that opportunity.
"With all recruiting areas it will be cyclical. But what we can assure people is if they are identified as having the talent to play at the highest level, then the SANFL will assure the pathway is available for them to do so."
More recently, the SANFL got the Aboriginal Pathways to Excellence Program up and running, its goal to oversee the development of Aboriginal football in South Australia initially through education.
AboriginalFootball@westnet.com.au
Last Modified on 25/08/2011 00:45